We’re in a message series called “Messengers of Hope.” If you’re a believer, that’s what God has called you to be, a messenger of hope. But in order to be a messenger of hope, you’ve got to be filled with hope yourself. It’s pretty hard to encourage somebody else to be hopeful, when you’re feeling hopeless. So today, as we conclude this message series, we’re going to talk about a hope that will keep you going, no matter what is going on in your life.
I’ve entitled this message “Eternal Hope.” Eternal hope is a hope that never quits and lasts forever. There really are two aspects of hope. This first aspect of hope is centered in this life, it’s a temporal hope because life itself is temporary. God wants us to have hope that He will move and act on our behalf in this life.
In this message series, we’ve talked about hope for healing, hope that eliminates worry and hope for freedom. God wants us to be filled with hope at what He is going to do in and through our lives. Yet, we all understand, that life on this earth is not heaven on earth. This world is filled with pain, suffering, injustice, sin and evil. And believers are not immune from what goes on around us in the world. In America, we have it pretty good, with respect to persecution. But around the world, believers are suffering and dying daily for their faith. Hebrews speaks of believers suffering.
Hebrews 11:36-37 (NIV) Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated–
So what was wrong with those people? Is it that they did not have enough faith?
Hebrews 11:38-39 (NIV) the world was not worthy of them. … These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised.
So they had faith, yet they did not receive what had been promised, I might add, in this life. The faith of those believers mentioned here extended beyond this life into eternity, they had an eternal hope.
1 Corinthians 15:19 (NIV) If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.
You see, in God’s providence, sometimes bad things happen to good people. It’s part of God’s plan but the road for some is more difficult than for others. If all we’re looking at is this life, then when something bad happens, we may end up blaming God and falling away from Him. In fact, one of the purposes of the entire book of Hebrews, is to encourage believers who were encountering severe persecution to remain faithful to God and not fall away. So, how can we have this eternal hope, that keeps on hoping, that keeps on believing, no matter what is happening in your life?
Listen to my May 6, 2012 message Eternal Hope.